Google’s Android operating system edged out Apple’s iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter, research firm NPD Group reported Monday. According to NPD, devices running Android accounted for 28 percent of the units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010. BlackBerry …

Wireless devices that run at speeds in gigabits rather than megabits have been given the green light to hit the consumer market. The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) announced Monday that its 60GHz multi-gigabit wireless technology is now available for member companies to start turning out products that use the new high-speed standard. Operating at the unused frequency of 60GHz, the …

Verizon’s customers are a happy lot. AT&T’s? Not so much, still. At least those are the findings of a survey (PDF) released last week by ChangeWave Research that found Verizon tops among cell phone users for customer satisfaction and fewer dropped calls. Of the 4,040 wireless subscribers questioned for the survey in March, 49 percent of Verizon’s customers said they …

Big news in the world of sat-nav voices! Nokia’s Ovi Maps now puts your own voice in charge of directions, while TomTom is using the force to guide you with the voice of Darth Vader and others from the Star Wars series. Be your own navigator: Own Voice for Ovi Maps To get your phone directing you in your own …

Samsung At first glance, Sprint’s latest handset, the Samsung Seek, looks like your typical messaging cell phone, with a slider QWERTY keyboard, threaded text messaging, IM, and social-networking integration. However, it also has a green conscience. The Seek is part of a new trial recycling campaign from Sprint and Samsung that enables customers to use the Seek’s packaging to ship …

Terminator 2 could be back… in 3D. Fresh from reinventing 3D filmmaking with Avatar, James Cameron wants to go back in time to target his own back catalogue and convert Aliens and the Terminator films into 3D — once he’s finished adding an extra dimension to Titanic. Cameron is currently working on converting his 1997 Oscar-snatcher to three dimensions. He’s …

Australian telcos Telstra and Optus have revealed their new Apple iPad broadband data pricing, which offers five times more data than similar data plans on other mobile devices. Telstra’s prepaid pricing for iPad starts at AU$20 per month for 1GB of data and increases to AU$30 for 3GB, a much higher data allowance than that given to all other Telstra …

commentary Electronic manufacturer Apple is renowned for its ability as a company to control its marketing message. Apple almost never makes comments outside of its official and carefully constructed press statements, and this is arguably one of the key factors in the company’s success in recent years. But over the last few months we’ve seen Apple extend the reach of …

StoryCorps is a terrific nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, sharing, and preserving stories told by friends and family members. If you listen to NPR’s Morning Edition, you’ve almost certainly heard some clips. The StoryCorps app for iPhone lets you listen to some of these stories, then learn how to record and share interviews of your own. Unfortunately, the app falls …

LG is allying itself with Iron Man 2 to promote the Android-powered Ally phone, which is confirmed for lift-off this month. The Ally boasts an 81mm (3.2-inch) touchscreen, covering a slide-out, full-Qwerty keyboard. It packs a 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and GPS. LG came late to the Android party, starting with the InTouch Max GW620 earlier this year. That was recently …